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"Nothing has driven home a certain truth about my generation, which is approaching the apex of its childbearing years, quite like this."--The New Yorker

"A parenting zeitgeist"--Washington Post

"A hilarious take on that age-old problem: getting the beloved child to go to sleep."--National Public Radio

"A new Bible for weary parents"--New York Times

"Resonates powerfully with almost everyone"--Boston Globe

"Go the F*** to Sleep challenges stereotypes, opens up prototypes, and acknowledges that shared sense of failure that comes to all parents who weary of ever getting their darling(s) to sleep and briefly resuming the illusion of a life of their own."--Midwest Book Review

Go the F*** to Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don't always send a toddler sailing blissfully off to dreamland. Profane, affectionate, and radically honest, California Book Award-winning author Adam Mansbach's verses perfectly capture the familiar--and unspoken--tribulations of putting your little angel down for the night. In the process, they open up a conversation about parenting, granting us permission to admit our frustrations, and laugh at their absurdity.

With illustrations by Ricardo Cortes, Go the F*** to Sleep is beautiful, subversive, and pants-wettingly funny--a book for parents new, old, and expectant. You probably should not read it to your children.

Seriously, Just Go to Sleep, a children's book inspired by Go the F*** to Sleep and appropriate for kids of all ages, is forthcoming from Akashic Books in April 2012 and available NOW for pre-order.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"* 'Total genius.' - Jonathan Lethem, father of two, author of MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN * 'A children's book for grown-ups! I really did laugh out loud-hilarious!' - David Byrne, father of one, musician, artist * 'This is the most honest children's book ever written. And it's f*cking hilarious.' - A.J. Jacobs, father of three, author of THE YEAR OF LIVING BIBLICALLY * 'I wish this book had been around during my daughter's overly protracted sleep rituals! Finally, someone tells it like it really is. This is no-guilt funny and a godsend!' - Cristina Garcia, mother of one, author of THE LADY MATADOR'S HOTEL * 'Go the Fuck to Sleep is the secret anthem of tired parents everywhere. Adam Mansbach's homage to the tropes of bedtime stories is pitch perfect, and Ricardo Cortes's stunning illustrations will keep grown-ups and kids alike returning to these pages again and again!' - Bliss Boyard, author of ONE DROP: MY FATHER'S HIDDEN LIFE"
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.

About the Author

Adam Mansbach's novels include The End of the Jews, winner of the California Book Award, and the best-selling Angry Black White Boy, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2005. His fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the Believer, Granta, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. He was the 2010-2011 New Voices Professor of Fiction at Rutgers University. His daughter, Vivien, is three.

Ricardo Cortes has illustrated books about marijuana, electricity, the Jamaican bobsled team, and Chinese food. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine, the Village Voice, the San Francisco Chronicle, and on the O'Reilly Factor and CNN. He lives in Brooklyn, NY, where he is working on a book about the history of Coca-Cola and cocaine. To see more of his work, visit: Rmcortes.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

I can't imagine anyone more qualified to do the audio version of this book than Samuel L Jackson. It's genius. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. I highly recommend this to anyone, especially someone who has struggled with a small child at bedtime.

Ok, I know everyone is going to be shocked about cussing in a children's book - but this isn't a children's book. This is a wildly amusing, completely relate-able book for real parents of real kids. Hasn't every parent felt this at one time or another? We don't hate our kids or want them to be injured by our words, we just really want them to GTFTS! I can't wait for the creators of this book to come out with a potty training one.Great laughs.

I am not a person who swears, so I never thought I'd buy this book. But I not only bought one for me but also one for my son who has a 2 year old, 4 year old, and seven year old. We sat together tonight as he read it and we laughed so hard we had to constantly stop reading to get our breathe back. I told him I was sleep deprived for five years after I had him. He told me this book was "his life" and he knew his wife would love it, too! The illustrations are beautiful and contrast wonderfully with the verses.

I NEVER write reviews, but this book is too brilliant to let pass. It is, for me, pitch-perfect, and the illustrations make it even funnier -- we have (now given away) an endless supply of the lovely books on which this is clearly based, the 'sheep are asleep beyond the hills' books. They seem so charming with your first baby . . .

As other reviewers have said, clearly pass on this book if you object to profanity -- that seems too obvious to mention, and I'm unclear on why anyone who objects to profanity, or thinks it too low-brow, would buy a book called "Go the @^#*(@^# to Sleep." Caveat emptor, no? Also pass on it if you are yourself not very funny, or your children are unusually docile. Finally, be sure to hide it from your kids -- I live in some terror that my kids will find this on the high shelf in my home office. With those caveats in mind, buy it now. I second the earlier reviewer who said it made him more patient in the bedtime ritual -- I just climbed down from the top bunk, at 37 wks pregnant, after consoling my 5 yr old about the 'sad part' of the book she just read (the dog goes back to its original owners), and the 2 yr old because the 5 yr old's sobbing was keeping her up, and thinking "just go the eff to sleep." I felt kind of zen about the whole thing, as opposed to cranky and annoyed.

Do not buy this for your friends having their first child; they won't appreciate it.

... just a note to outraged parents: this is not a children's book, it is a *parody* of children's book. It should not be read to children, but it is not *intended* to be read to children.

No doubt some book sellers, dealing with many books every day and misled by the cover (which covers up the f-word), put this book in the children's section. But I've seen book stores with Flaubert's "Sentimental Education" in education book, or Pirsing's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in the "automotive maintenance" section. That is not the author's fault.

The book itself is quite amusing, although, like most children's books, which it copies, quite short. As for the price, quite apart from supply and demand, like with "real" children's books, you are not, really, paying for the text -- it is too short for that (as most children's books are) -- but for the artwork and the production value, which are both very good.

Whether it is worth the price is a personal issue. Some people will be greatly amused and would enjoy it as a conversation piece. Some people will think it's very overpriced. But I am just noting that much of the criticism of this book in the reviews (that is corrupts children, that it is overpriced because it is short, etc.) is just not to the point.

There are a lot of cheap parodies of Margaret Wise Brown's classic Goodnight Moon, with varying degrees of cleverness (unfortunately, usually not very good). This could have been just another, and certainly would have gotten a lot of buzz based on the title alone.

I couldn't help taking a look, figuring at the worst, it'd be something like Baby, Mix Me a Drink (Baby Be of Use) from McSweeney's. But, it's actually a very sweet look at the troubles and frustrations of being a new parent. Having a child turns your life upside down, no matter how prepared you think you are for it, and, yeah, it's hard. Sure, this is a joke book, and the humor is certainly in the inappropriate profanity, but underneath, there's the touching honesty of a loving parent who can admit that it doesn't all just come easily.

And, unlike those cheap parodies, the words and rhythms actually scan pretty well. Huh; look at that. I suppose with an endorsement from David Byrne on the back cover, that's the least one could hope for.

Anyway, this highly recommended as a gift for anyone with a first child aged three months to -- whenever kids start going to sleep by themselves. (It's gotta happen eventually, right?) In any case, not only will the new parents laugh, they'll be able to relate.